


Soulmates

by GettingGreyer



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/F, Secret Relationship, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 15:17:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10440744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GettingGreyer/pseuds/GettingGreyer
Summary: They knew that to kiss eachother so passionately, so affectionately, and so deeply was practically a crime. They knew everything about them was wrong ... because they weren't soulmates.





	

When Veronica and Betty kissed they knew. They knew this was a type of kiss that was reserved for soulmates. The type of kiss where the world stood still and everyone else vanished. The type of kiss where lips parted and soft moans rang out. The type of kiss where they knew each other as intimately and instinctively  as they knew themselves. The type of kiss they were never meant to share. 

  


Because the name on Betty’s wrist, written in dark red flowing calligraphy, did not say Veronica Lodge. And the name on the shoulder of Veronica’s back, written in violet silky letters, did not say Elizabeth Cooper. 

  


They knew what they were doing was wrong, sinful even, and most of all it was selfish. To kiss someone as they kissed, when they weren't soulmates, was very nearly a crime. They both knew that it would only end in both of them, and any who found out, badly hurt. But they kissed anyway.

  


“Veronica,” Betty murmured into Veronica’s lips. “I think I hear a car in the driveway.”

  


Veronica deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue across Betty’s soft lips. “I didn't hear anything.” Veronica’s hands cradled Betty’s face, her thumb brushing the cheek of the girl under her.

  


“I-I’m sure … I …” Betty’s thoughts became muddled under the sweltering dark gaze of her best friend. “You’re right.” Betty returned the kiss just as fervently. The front door clicked open and the sudden shrieks of the hinges thundered across the house. Betty pushed Veronica away, ignoring the pouting expression on her face.

  


“Why’d we stop?” Veronica whined.

  


The loud sounds of stomping feet on the stairs slowly grew louder.

  


“She’s home!” Betty hissed.

  


Veronica’s face grew serious and the pair flew to work. The bed was patted down and clothes were unruffled and hair was quickly brushed. The door to the bedroom began to squeak and Veronica gently squeezed Betty’s hands. Their hands fell away from each other as the door opened.

  


“Betty, I — ” Alice Cooper’s eyes grew and then narrowed suspiciously. Her eyes flitted between the two girls who were sitting innocently upon Betty’s bed. “What is she doing here?”

  


Veronica, as always, wore her signature smirk. “Oh you know, just girl stuff. Make up, boys — ”

  


“I didn't ask you.” Alice snapped and Veronica nodded her head in mocking politeness. Alice ignored the insult and turned her eyes back to her daughter. “What is she doing here, Betty?”

  


Betty’s hands instinctively balled into tight fists, her nails digging and scraping into her skin. She missed the comfort of Veronica’s warm arms. “Ronnie’s my friend, Mom. I know you don't like her, but you don't have to know her.” Betty swallowed nervously, she glanced at Veronica who had replaced her smirk with a warm reassuring smile. A smile that only Betty ever got to see. “She’s my friend and I'm not going to stop hanging out with her just because you say so.”

  


Veronica’s smile grew and she looked at Betty with eyes filled with pride and triumph.

  


“She can stay for another hour, but after that she's gone.” The bite in Alice’s words never left. She gave one last wary glance at the smiling Veronica before leaving the room. She closed the door, leaving a slight gap of opening that allowed the pair to peer into the hallway.

  


“Well, now that you've stood up to your mother. I think you need a reward.” Veronica leaned into Betty, but Betty turned her face and scooted away across the bed. 

  


“My Mom's here now.” Betty muttered.

  


“We can be quiet.”

  


“She left the door cracked.”

  


“Then close it.”

  


“Veronica,” Betty pleaded.

  


“Okay,” Veronica sighed, even as she did so a teasing smile crossed her face. “So, do you want to watch a movie,  _ friend? _ ”

  


Betty rolled her eyes, but she smiled too. “Sure, you pick this time.”

  


Veronica lifted herself from the bed and walked to a shelf filled with old dvds. She made sure to sway her hips as she did. Betty no longer pretended to not stare.

  


Betty loved watching movies in her room with Veronica. They had to use her laptop so they would lay in bed, side by side, closely. They could lean into one another, twist their fingers into each other's hands under the covers, intertwine their legs together, and if anyone walked in they wouldn't  question it. Watching a movie together in the comfort of Betty’s room using her crappy laptop was the only time they didn't have to hide and worry. They weren't a secret. 

  


“So, do you want to watch Sleepover or — ”

  


Veronica was interrupted by the sudden beep and vibration of Betty’s cellphone. Betty quickly apologized as she checked the message. When she read who it was from her breath left her and she was left with an empty squirming feeling of intense guilt. 

  


Veronica saw the look that crossed Betty’s face. She recognized what it meant, and she felt a different kind of sudden stabbing pain. “Archie.” She didn't even have to ask. 

  


“I'm sorry, it's just — ”

  


“No, no, it's fine. What did he say?” Veronica tried to keep the anger out of her voice and anyone else would have thought she succeeded. But Betty knew her, and she recognized things about Veronica that no one else did. 

  


“He managed to get a gig this Saturday. He's invited me.”

  


“Oh. This Saturday. The Saturday we were going to going to go to New York. Good for him.” Veronica didn't even try to hide the venom from her voice.

  


“Ronnie,” Betty paused, “I'm sorry.”

  


“No, it's fine. You should be there for your boyfriend.” They both flinched when the word left her mouth. Veronica turned her eyes to the floor. She didn't want Betty to see the beginnings of tears in her eyes.

  


“You know it's not that simple. He's not just my boyfriend, he’s …” Betty didn't want to say it.

  


Veronica turned around as she finally allowed her tears to fall from her eyes. “He’s your soulmate. I know.”

  


Silence was the only thing that existed in that moment. Once again it was just the two of them, but it lacked the romance of before. When Betty said nothing Veronica walked from the room, stalked down the stairs, and opened the front door — the shrieks of the hinges rang throughout the house. The door thudded shut and Betty was alone. 

  


Betty resisted the urge to cry. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. She tore off the pale bandage that she kept wrapped around her wrist. Blood from her hands rolled off her skin. The scarlet blood looked just like the ink that made up the name. The name of her childhood friend, and now the mark of a hated fate. Betty stopped trying to hide tears as she wrapped her arms around her legs, buried her head into her chest and screamed with silence. 

***

  


Veronica knew that it shouldn’t hurt. She knew that it was wrong, so wrong to feel torn apart whenever she saw the name Archie Andrews scribbled in red across Betty’s wrist. She knew that she shouldn’t feel heartbroken each time she sees the name that isn’t Betty’s drawled on her shoulder. But it did hurt. It ripped and tore and gnawed at her every organ. She felt her heart sink, her stomach clench, her throat swell, and her eyes sting.

  


But all those feelings went away when she met Betty’s blue eyes. They were replaced with peace and serenity and an unbridled happiness. Each time she gazed into Betty’s eyes her heart swelled, her stomach danced, her throat went dry, and her eyes lit up. It was those moments that Veronica savored. It was those moments that felt so right that she remember why she was in love. In love with someone who wasn’t her soulmate. 

  


Veronica glanced at her silent phone. She doesn’t know why she expected a text, but she did. She knew that it was her own fault. She was the one who walked out. She was the one who freaked out. Why should Betty have to be the one to text first? But still, Veronica had expected her to, or rather, wanted her to. 

  


Peeling off her shirt Veronica looked at the mirror behind her. She could still see the lines of the pale purple ink beneath the layers of make up. Veronica used to proudly show her soulmark. She’d wear shirts that exposed the back of her shoulder so that all could see it. She wore it with pride. Then Betty happened. 

  


Veronica had felt innately drawn to Betty the moment that they met. She knew that they were destined to be friends, that they were meant to be together. Their kiss at tryouts had been a sudden impulse on Veronica’s part, but it had given them both a taste of something else.Veronica didn’t want to stop, and for moment, it seemed like Betty didn’t want to either. Their second kiss happened just as suddenly, but this time it was Betty who was controlled by impulse. The pair had been talking on Betty’s bed as they usually did. Veronica was being half flirting and half teasing as always, but then their knees bumped against each other. Their legs became intertwined, their shoulders knocked against each other and Betty turned to look into Veronica’s dark brown eyes. The movie emitting from her laptop may have as well been silent in that moment, because Betty found herself entranced by Veronica’s eyes. She leaned in and the blonde’s lips met the brunette’s. They never stopped kissing after that. 

  


The way Veronica felt about Betty was the exact feeling that had been described to her by her mother, by her father, by her teachers, by everyone. The feeling they got when they met their soulmate, when they saw their soulmate, when they kissed their soulmate. That was the exact feeling that Veronica felt exploding in her chest when she was with Betty.

  


But Betty’s soul mate was Archie Andrews. The boy next door, her childhood friend, the athlete and the musician. How could Veronica compete with that? How could she compete with a soulmate? How could she even think of such a thing? The feeling of gnawing guilt climbed up her stomach.

  


Veronica pulled her shirt back on, once again covering the mark, and walked down the stairs. Her mother was sitting at the table, drinking a coffee and going through paperwork. Her eyes raised and they lit up when she saw her daughter. “Veronica, sweetie. Do you need something?”

  


“No,” Veronica swayed in place, something she never did.

  


Her mother raised an eyebrow and waved her hand. “Come here, sweetie.”

  


Veronica moved one foot in front of the other as she trudged through the air.

  


“Mija, you seem distracted. Are you okay?”

  


Veronica turned to her mother and forced a weak smile. “Yeah,” 

  


Her mother simply shook her head and pulled her daughter into the seat next to her. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  


Veronica squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t do this. It was wrong. “Have you ever …” She couldn’t do this anymore. “... loved someone who wasn’t Dad? Wasn’t your soulmate?”

  


Her mother’s eyes instantly widened and shame washed over Veronica. “Are you … in love?” Veronica avoided her mother’s gaze. Her mother placed her hand reassuringly on Veronica’s shoulder, the shoulder with her cursed mark, and squeezed it softly.  She opened her mouth and closed it several times, before the soft, whispered, word finally came out. “Yes,”

  


Veronica’s gaze instantly snapped up and met her mother’s steely gaze. “What?”

  


“Yes, I’ve love outside of my soulmate. Most do, they just don’t talk about it.”

  


“Well, what happened?”

  


“He met his soulmate. We were only seventeen when we met, far too young to really understand love.” Her message was clear, but Veronica shook her head. She knew love. “We dated for … five years? Yes, five years. We were going to get married.” She let out a wry laugh, but Veronica’s eyes grew to saucers.

  


“You were going to marry someone who wasn’t your soulmate?” The words left Veronica’s lips like bullets. “How?”

  


Her mother smiled, “At the time it didn’t seem to matter. It was just me and him, we weren’t going to let a tattoo decide who we love. All we knew was that we loved each other and that we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives.”

  


“Why didn’t you?”

  


“The day before our wedding—we had finally found a willing priest— he met his soulmate.” Her mother’s face grew pained. “He told me, told me that we could no longer be together. I remember being  _ so  _ mad and  _ so  _ heartbroken. I yelled at him, told him that we had promised not to be controlled by some invisible force. But then he told me something that I never forgot and I’ll never forget.”

  


Veronica’s throat went dry, “What’d he tell you?”

  


“He told me that meeting your soulmate was the most magical experience he had ever felt. He described it as an uncontrollable draw to a person. A feeling of complete bliss, passion and peace. He told me that a hole that he never knew was there, had suddenly been filled the moment he was in his soulmate’s presence. He was crying from pure joy as he described the moment he saw his name on the girl’s forearm. He told me that he saw a golden glow form around her when she saw her own name on his palm, and she smiled.” Veronica’s mom wore a warm smile as a tear slid down her cheek. “He told me that one day I would experience that feelings. And I did. With your father.”

  


Veronica stared at her mother, who was wearing the brightest smile she had ever seen. As if she was recalling a story of joy rather than heartbreak. “So, he just … left you.”

  


“He met his soulmate.”

  


“You had been dating for five years though,” Veronica scrambled out. “Didn’t that mean anything?”

  


Her mother sighed, “You’ll understand when you meet your own soulmate.”

  


“What if …”  _ I don’t love him as much as her?  _ “... I don’t meet him?” The words left her lips like a painful coughing poison.

  


“ _ Mija _ , is that what you're worried about?” Veronica felt herself pulled into a hug. “Don’t worry about such things. You will meet your soulmate and I promise you that when you do, everything I have said will make sense.”

  


“What about …” Veronica whispered.

  


“The one you love now _ is _ important. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. But one day you will meet your soulmate, and they will meet theirs and when that happens you both will see.”

  


_ What if she’s already met her soulmate? What if she’s lived next to him her entire life? What if I never stop loving her? _

  


“Keep falling in love. It may not ever match the connection you will feel with a soulmate, but it is still love.” Her mother stared into her daughter’s eyes and added, “Never feel shame.”

  


Veronica didn’t say anything for a moment, but then she stood up and pushed in her chair. “Thanks, Mom.” She twisted her lips into a smile. 

  


“I’m glad we talked. Remember what I said”

  


Veronica smiled, but her face was starting to hurt. She had wanted her mom to give her hope. To tell her that what she had with Betty could last. All she learned was that she and Betty were destined to fail, the universe itself was going to force them apart. If a five year relationship and an engagement couldn’t stand up against soulmates then what could she do? Her mother said that she would feel some magical spark when she saw her soulmate, but she already felt that magical spark, with Betty. Did Betty feel that spark with her? Or, Veronica’s heart pained, did she feel that spark with Archie?

  


Veronica let out a pained huff. What was wrong with her? She loved someone who wasn’t her soulmate. Someone who already knew their soulmate. Someone who was in a serious relationship with their soulmate. Someone that was absolutely perfect, but she could never completely be with, because Betty Cooper belonged to Archie Andrews and Archie Andrews belonged to Betty Cooper.

  


Veronica looked back into the mirror and stared at the purple ink. That name belonged to her soulmate. Her soulmate belonged to her and she belonged to him. Nothing would ever change that.

  


Her phone buzzed on her dresser, it shook quietly in the mirror. Veronica snapped it open and stared at the message.

  


_ I told Archie I was busy on Saturday. Still up for B&V time? _

  


A smile, a real one, spread across Veronica’s lips. Her chest buzzed and her hands shook and she glowed as she typed a speedy reply.

  


_ I’m always up for it B. Don’t you know that by now? _

  
Veronica knew that one day she would have to be the maid of honor at Betty’s wedding as her father gave her away to Archie Andrews. She knew that she would have to be the perfect best friend and plan the wedding, the bachelorette party, and watch Betty be given away without a word. She knew it was going to be the worst day of her life, but still ... she found herself feeling nervously giddy at the thought of spending time with her best friend Betty Cooper: her real soulmate.   


**Author's Note:**

> I've never been a huge fan of soulmates. Mainly because of two reasons, firstly I'm a huge slow burn fan and I hate romances that occur suddenly and with soulmate AUs the characters usually instantly get together after meeting one another. Secondly, I hate the idea of fate and being forced to do something because "it's your destiny." So, I kind of wanted to briefly explore that idea with this one shot. I wanted to explore the people who don't want to be with their soulmate. Probably isn't that good, but I finally got the idea out of my head. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
